Firearms typically discharge noise and gases into the atmosphere, when fired, which may be harmful or offensive to the shooter and/or to others within the general vicinity. As a result various suppression devices have been devised in order to attempt to solve this problem. These sound suppressor devices may feature baffles that use some form of asymmetry while others may feature the use of baffles that are basically symmetrical. While asymmetrical baffles typically produce high levels of turbulence within the sound suppressor, which aids in producing high levels of sound and flash reduction, asymmetrical baffles may result in some detrimental effects on the accuracy of the host firearm.
The concept behind the use of baffles is to divert gases away from a bore axis along which a projectile travels after leaving the muzzle of a firearm. The more effective the diversion, and subsequent creation of turbulence due to the diverting gases impinging upon other surfaces (e.g., spacers, gas flow channels and vent holes) within the suppressor, generally the suppressor is more efficient with regards to sound reduction.